Dec. 14, 2005 - Postmenopausal women who eat lots of dairy products may be less likely to develop breast cancer.
Don't skip over the word "may" in that sentence. It's too soon to declare dairy as protector against breast cancer, the researchers caution.
The study comes from the American Cancer Society's Marjorie McCullough, ScD, RD, and colleagues. It appears in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention.
McCullough's study included more than 68,000 women, most of whom were white and middle class.
All of the women had completed menopause and didn't have breast cancer when the study started in the early 1990s.
They completed lengthy surveys about their diets and lifestyles. The surveys covered consumption of 68 foods including milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and other dairy products. Most of the dairy products consumed were low fat.
Use of multivitamins and calcium supplements were also noted.
The women were followed through August 2001. By then, they had had 2,855 cases of breast cancer.
Women who had the highest dietary calcium intake were 20% less likely to have been diagnosed with breast cancer than those whose diets were lowest in dietary calcium.
Calcium isn't only found in dairy products. However, dairy products were the biggest calcium source for women in McCullough's study.